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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693834">I'm not a coat rack</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enjolchilles/pseuds/Enjolchilles'>Enjolchilles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Secret Relationship, getting caught</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:28:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693834</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enjolchilles/pseuds/Enjolchilles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Some people like to pretend that Abed can't see what is so clearly in front of him. </p>
<p>Or, a selection of times Abed knew Jeff and Annie were more than just friends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annie Edison/Jeff Winger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>119</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'm not a coat rack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title from Abed's quote in Mixology Certification (2x10)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Abed caught on to Jeff and Annie pretty quickly. In all fairness, they sure could have done a better job hiding it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff stepped out from the bookshelves and almost ran directly into Abed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh sorry,” Jeff apologized. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed noticed a shimmering substance across Jeff’s neck and glossing his lips, as well as the faint smell of bubblegum. Jeff must've picked up on it too as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, we should head to the study room,” Jeff said, walking towards where the group always met.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A few seconds passed before Annie emerged as well. She avoided his gaze as she fixed the top button of her shirt and followed to the study room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it just me or are these mashed potatoes a little hard?” Troy asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not just you,” answered Britta, holding her bowl upside down while the potatoes stayed perfectly in place. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed’s elbow bumped a stack of napkins off the table, and he lent down to get them. Underneath the table he saw two entwined hands between Jeff’s jean clad leg and Annie’s patterned skirt. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed has a pretty good sense of smell, not that you'd really need one in order to differentiate the study group members. Especially Jeff and Annie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When it's hot outside Annie uses a fragrance that smells strongly of green apples, but when fall comes around she opts for a more spiced scent like cinnamon treats. Jeff smelt of the stereotypical male cologne you'd involuntarily catch a whiff of while passing by the most expensive suit store in the mall. It was filled with whatever advertisers thought men wanted to smell like, “musk”, “earth”, “wood”, and whatnot. This makes it easy to tell when either enters the room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One day his nose perked up at the smell of a granny smith apple, he turned around prepared to greet Annie but was met with Jeff instead. Jeff looked disheveled, which was out of the ordinary. His hair was more mussed up than usual, normally it was done in a very purposeful way, to make it look as if he had put no thought into it; but this time it looked as if it actually went through something to achieve its tousled look.    </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There was that day their anthropology class went on a field trip to the history museum (somehow Duncan had made that happen, but when they got there he set them free to roam, asking only that they come back with at least one fact they learned to tell the Dean and avoid any suspicion). </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The study group went off, wandering around the different decades on display. Britta spearheaded the group, mentioning something about counting how many more male historical figures were on display compared to female. Shirley and Pierce followed her with Troy and Abed close behind. Jeff kept Annie company as she lagged behind, actually opting to read every word on the display information cards. Jeff didn't seem to mind waiting up for her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed’s eyes drifted down to the floor and he noticed his shoelaces were untied. He told Troy to go on without him and that he’d catch up with them in a few moments. Troy offered to wait up but he was soon pulled away by Pierce asking him to help settle an argument he had started with Britta and Shirley (an argument he would most definitely not be winning). Abed told him to go on, he’d only be a second. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He shifted over to the left to stay out of the way of the foot traffic, not that there was much of it. When he finished tying up the loose laces he decided to re-tie the other pair just for safety. While Jeff and Annie were slowly catching up with the group they passed Abed without noticing he was there. He looked up for a second to see Jeff’s hand move from the lowest part of Annie's back to grab her butt. Annie swatted playfully at Jeffs upper arm whispering for him to stop before they got caught. Abed saw her bite her lip through the corner of his eye. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed had seen the hoodie once before. For a brief moment when Jeff had stayed in Abed’s dorm room their first year, he hadn't been able to do laundry for a few weeks and resorted to wearing an old hoodie he’d never be caught dead in in public. Now he’d seen Annie wearing it, a far cry from the usual tight colourful cardigans she wore. He doesn't think anyone else noticed, or if they did they didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Jeff was normally very protective of his clothes but he didn't seem to care now, seeing her encompassed by the soft gray fabric, with the sleeves so long she had to roll them up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Annie and Jeff sure do look at each other a lot.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff looks at Annie, especially when her neckline is low or her sweater tight, when she sits up straight with her shoulder back or her legs crossed. And there was that one time she was making a vase in pottery class… </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Annie looks at Jeff when he takes his shirt off (which he inexplicably does all the time), looks at his ass (though she holds that that's not her fault, since it's usually Shirley that encourages it), and she had a bit of a thing for his hands. She’d zoned off before with her eyes in their direction while they were studying (daydreaming, which she could afford to do on occasion as she was always a bit ahead of the others with her studies). </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They look at each other a lot, in each other’s eyes, as if they can see something in each other no one else can.   </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Abed wakes up very easily. Normally he’ll shut his eyes again and go back to sleep, but now he was weirdly tempted to go check on the rustle he heard from right outside the blanket fort. He tried to get down from his bunk bed ladder as quietly as possible to not wake Troy. He suddenly got the sense that he was following in the footsteps of the doomed protagonist of a trope heavy horror movie, the ones he’d normally make fun of. So he grabbed a flashlight to arm himself with. He peaked through one of the sheets to see a shirtless man, taller and more muscular than him. He would’ve been scared had he not soon recognized it was Jeff. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff turned around, he was filling a glass of water. He was shocked to see Abed but put on his faux-confident air, “What are you doing up?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I heard a noise.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff looked at Abed, not fully able to see his face with only the moon as a light and not fully able to read his face (though that wasn't too different from usual). </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff put his hand on Abed's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting/reassuring yet stern/paternal way, “We’ll talk about this in the morning,” he walked carefully and quietly, slowly turning the handle and opening the door of Annie’s bedroom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What if there’s no point in hiding anymore?” Jeff asked Annie in the morning.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure?” She asked. They had made the mutual decision to keep their relationship under wraps.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff nodded and pursed his lips before talking, “Now that i’ve really thought about it, I dont think anyone will really care.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They smiled at each other and Annie rushed forward to give him a kiss on the cheek, “I’ll go start breakfast,” She said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Annie went out to the kitchen, always the morning person, she skipped to the cabinet with a small pep in her step and a smirk on her face. She grabbed the pancake mix and turned on the stove. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Troy and Abed woke up to the smell of pancakes. They peeled back a sheet on their blanket fort and walked out to see Annie humming while she cooked them breakfast. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Good morning!” her tone was sing-songy. “Do you want to start something on the tv? Pancakes are almost done!” she waved her spatula at them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s in a good mood,” Troy said while Abed and him walked towards the tv, they turned on the next episode of their Inspector Spacetime rewatch marathon and sat at the table to watch and eat at the same time. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff walked out in the same clothes he’d worn yesterday. He put his hand on the back of Annie’s fuzzy pink robe as she put the pancakes on four separate plates. Troy looked from their interaction to Abed with a confused expression. Abed nodded to reassure him of his suspicions. Troy seemed to accept this without much surprise.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Here we go!” Annie set a plate in front of Troy and Abed each while Jeff set a plate down for himself and Annie. They sat down as close as possible so that Troy and Abed could still see the tv screen. Troy smiled at Annie and Jeff, voicing his approval and understanding with a ‘thank you’. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jeff and Annie looked at each other like a couple in a romantic comedy do right before the credits rolled, smiling in joyous relief that they were finally together. A recognizable look that Abed had seen before and could comprehend. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He thinks they look happier than he has ever seen them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>please tell me if any grammar/spelling needs to be corrected or just let me know what you think :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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